Ring out the Old…. We Wish Our Readers a Happy and Healthy 2013

We often quote a verse from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Ring Out Wild Bells” when we write our annual New Year’s editorial. We write about the events that happened in the old year and discuss those that may come in the new, as well as our hopes for a better year than the year before.

But we have to admit that we had not read Tennyson’s poem in its entirety for quite some time. So when we came upon it while thinking about an editorial for this week’s newspaper, we were struck by how relevant it is today. Although it was published in 1850, the thoughts expressed in it are timeless. Indeed, one could apply every stanza to something going on in the world at the close of 2012. (For example, consider the last two lines of the third stanza for which a Tea Party believer might label Tennyson a Socialist!)

So we felt it might be nice to reprint it in its entirety and hope you take the time to read it and enjoy it, as we did the other day.